bertvorgon wrote:I still see huge gaps between the rad and the rad support. I would seal those up for sure, then still shroud in the inter-cooler also. The end tanks on that inter-cooler will cause the air to stall there, and/or go everywhere but through the cores.

Last time I was at the track was the first time with the new turbo upgrade and I had no issues of overheating. Stayed right around 205 the entire 30 min session. I think you were right on the money with the last turbo being over worked running to high of boost.

I was thinking of using some aluminum tape to seal off all gaps on the next track day to see if it makes any difference. I will let you know the out come.

It has been a long while since I have updated this post , figure I would resurrect it from deep being that I recently had a fun experience with the car and a great aah ha moment. If you have followed this build you already know I have had problems with the car while out at track days. Overheating was always the biggest issue and I had tried multiple things to correct it. Started with better ducting and cleaning up air gaps , cavitation from the water pump, oil being too hot, turbo working out of its efficiency range, etc. All these little things did add up and it seemed to keep my car slightly cooler with each addition. Next came a splitter which I think did provide some better air flow and I pretty much left it here for a while.

At this point in time I have done around 6 or so track days, and not once have I completed the entire day with out something breaking. Three events ago in session 3 of 4 the driver axle came off the aluminum hubs for the CV's which ended my day. The following I was taken out from the wastegate building so much heat it melted a hole in a couple for the hot side of the turbo . Every event was kicking my ass and I was pretty much over taking the car to track days. On the streets and on spirited drives I had no issues like I did on the track , it really showed me the stress the car sees that doesn't happen on the streets.

I felt like I was wasting money when I couldn't even last the full day , I really just wanted to start saving for a dedicated track build on a budget. Timing was actually pretty decent to give up for a while on going out to the track as my wife was accepted to the Dental Hygiene program . This would mean that her income at the time would be gone and her time also . Life really came quick having to step in a be super dad taking care of the child and the wife while she was full force into school. At this point she is still in school but life is now in a routine and going pretty smooth.

And now into more of the reason I started this post......

My hood flew up on me and was completely destroyed. So I sourced a used hood on craigslist and while I was at it I decided to throw on these vents. I was reading up on their claims of overall cooler underhood temps so I figured right now would be the ideal time to go for it. After the install I did not a test with some craft yarn tied under the hood. At 25-35 MPH a few of the strings would come out the hood and at 50+ they all were sucked out. With seeing the benefits of the vents this way plus watching my temps from driving around town I decided to give it another go at the track.

So I was able to get my personal best on this configuration. I told my self from the beginning of the day to not push the car as hard and try to make it all day. I made sure to stay in a gear higher than normal on a few of the turns and let the torque do its thing. The first session my temps were cooler than they ever were, never reached over 191 when they usually sit around 205. This session I did a 3:01.xx so I knew I already dropped 4 seconds from my previous test. Second session is where I was able to get the run above .........and then the dreaded third session....my nemesis.

Like clock work I failed to finish this session. I noticed on a few of the hard right hand turns on this course something was contacting from the g forces. Turned out that my motor mounts allowed the engine to move so much my wastegaste was contacting the strut tower which eventually it broke the weld off the manifold clean off! My day had ended just as expected. Usually I would get really frustrated but actually seeing the results from the hood vents and the "smoother is faster" theory really was inspiring . Dropping close to 9 seconds off my time and finally getting into the 2 min lap time was an accomplishment.

DNF's are really frustrating!I helped a friend a few weeks ago at the track with his vintage class 510. We were chasing an issue all weekend that I could not figure out of it was ignition or fuel. Played with the distributor, eventually changing it, and the coil. Looked at float levels, fuel delivery, went as far as installing the spare pump and even pulled the foam out fuel cell. We found lots of little issues throughout the weekend, but never found the actual problem. It was frustrating to say the least. But it says a lot for preparation, which I was not part of. And As any racer knows, that is the key.

in your case, a failure knocked out out which is harder to see. But when we calculate all the time that goes into the cars before the track day, it's really frustrating to not make use of the limited track time you have.

The pre work I did this go around was far above and beyond what I normally do. I wrote down all the different things that have sidelined me in the past and paid close attention to all of those areas. In between each run I actually jacked up the car and checked the 4 bolts per side with shanks that hold the adapter plate to the hub, they all had backed out slightly. So each run I was under the car slightly snugging them up. This will be my next project once I get the manifold back in and motor mounts replaced. Manifold is already welded up. There is another day in November but I don't think I will make that one, most likely wait for spring time.

It's one thing to claim those numbers as a dyno queen / street car, but quite another to sustain that for long'ish track sessions. I know the SR20 is stout little engine but it's still pretty damn impressive it stays buttoned up during those long & hard outings - I'm not surprised overheating has been a nagging issue!

I'm curious about the splitter, did the balance change much and make the car oversteer? Or did you offset that with some kind of rear spoiler?

It's one thing to claim those numbers as a dyno queen / street car, but quite another to sustain that for long'ish track sessions. I know the SR20 is stout little engine but it's still pretty damn impressive it stays buttoned up during those long & hard outings - I'm not surprised overheating has been a nagging issue!

I'm curious about the splitter, did the balance change much and make the car oversteer? Or did you offset that with some kind of rear spoiler?

Since this post I have slightly changed the set up ....again lol. Now insted of running the wastegate open to the atmosphere I have it run back to the downpipe. With that said I did loose a little power , its sitting at 300/300 now. But yes the internals of the motor are stock, but I did adress a few things to get to this power number. Specifically a z32 maf and also STI Yellow injectors. I think the biggest issue the entire time was the underhood temps over a 30 min session would get so high that it just heat soaked the entire bay. With the hood louvers allowing the exit of that heat has made a huge difference. I know there has been some posts about if they are beneficial or not and what is the right location, I think mine are working good based on the palcement Trackspec Motorsports recommended.

In regards to the splitter I really did not notice a difference in any oversteer or understeer. And no wing/spoiler out back. Just running Ermish coils with 225 springs and a sway bar.